Michael Rank: Historian, Writer, and Podcaster
History in Five Minutes PodcastEpisodes
Episodes of History in Five Minutes Podcast
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Welcome to the end, my friends! I am powering down History in Five Minutes because I have launched a new and better show called History Unplugged. You can subscribe to the show on iTunes or AndroidHere’s an overview of History Unplugged: Ever
The sinking of the Titantic was one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century. Over 1,000 passengers lost their lives on the supposedly unsinkable ship.But the chief baker didn’t. He managed to survive in the frigid waters for four hours w
Our guest today is Giles Milton, the host of the Unknown History Podcast.Winston Churchill was not afraid to get his hands dirty. He was perfectly happy to consider chemical warfare against the Axis powers. One plan involved turning an entire
Our guest today is Giles Milton, the host of the Unknown History Podcast.We all have an embarrassing relative. Maybe that embarrassing relative is us.But Winston Churchill’s cousin took it to a new level. She had love affairs, one of which t
Our guest today is Giles Milton, the host of the Unknown History Podcast.Giles is going to talk all about Churchill’s affinity for chemical weapons, something I didn’t even know was a thing.He answers all sorts of questions in this intervie
You’ve seen the look in historical dramas. You laughed at the foppish dandies that appear on Masterpiece Theater. In grade school you sneered at pictures of King George with his powdered wig, adjusting it ever so slightly while drinking a cu
Did you know that over 400,000 German POWs were settled in the United States during World War II? Did you know that they may have built some of the stone buildings that make up your town square? Or that they were responsible for bringing in
Teddy Roosevelt was not afraid to tempt death. He hiked the Matterhorn during his honeymoon. He arrested outlaws on the Dakota Frontier. He hunted rhinos in Africa.But his most dangerous journey came after his failure in 1912 to retake the
Theodore Roosevelt was hell bent on becoming president in 1912. He ran as a third-party candidate for the Progressive Party, a splinter group of Republicans dissatisfied with William Howard Taft.He was so committed to winning that he gave a
Perhaps no president has as many unbelievable stories about his life than Teddy Roosevelt. He was an amateur boxer. He was the first American politician to learn judo. He summited the Matterhorn during his honeymoon. He joined an expedition to
Gather around the campfire, children, and learn about the most ghoulish story from America’s pioneer days. What really happened to the party led by George Donner and his brother Jacob when they set out for California in 1846? When the party wa
References to acts of cannibalism are sprinkled throughout many religious and historical documents, such as the reports that cooked human flesh was being sold in 11th-century English markets. But the world’s first cannibal incident reported
It is the most gruesome activity that a human can do. It is the most ancient of taboos. Stories of the Donner Party, Jamestown, and the Franklin Expedition make for ghost stories today.But the real question is not why cannibalism occurs in
If you’ve seen the 1960 Spencer Tracy movie Inherit the Wind, you know about the Scopes Monkey Trial. In this real-life 1925 case, John Scopes was accused of violating Tennessee’s Butler Act, which had made it unlawful to teach human evoluti
According to legends of the Middle Ages, knights used the chastity belt on their wives as an anti-temptation device before embarking on the Crusades. When the knight left for the Holy Lands on the Crusades, his Lady would wear a chastity bel
“George Washington was the First President of the United States.” This is the most basic fact that an American school child can learn. But he wasn’t the first. Nor the second. He was actually the ninth president of the United States.How can
Depending on which account you hear, Columbus was either the bravest explorer of the early Renaissance or a mass murdered who subjected the indigenous population of the new world to death or slavery.Learn in this episode how Columbus was bo
Rome didn’t fall in 476 when Romulus, the last of the Roman emperors in the west, was overthrown by the Germanic leader Odoacer, who became the first Barbarian to rule in Rome.Nor did it fall in 1453 when the Ottoman Empire conquered Consta
Few episodes in history are so misunderstood as the condemnation of Galileo. His trial has become a stock argument to show the fundamental clash between science and dogmatism.Turns out the whole affair was actually a giant clash of egos, wi
Why do Americans celebrate the Fourth of July with fireworks? Are we trying to take the National Anthem as literally as possible, creating “Bombs Bursting in Air”? Or is there another reason?Much of the trappings of the Fourth of July date
Gutenberg’s moveable type printing press was the prime mover of the Renaissance. From his machine came millions of books, leading to the democratization of knowledge, the fall of the papacy, and the rise of reason.But what if this wasn’t Gute
In the early 1800s there was no English explorer greater than James Holman. He travelled almost 20 times farther than Marco Polo. He travelled among 200 different cultures, charted undiscovered parts of Australia, and by October 1846 had visit
Britain’s World War II leader is considered as the gold standard of confident leadership. He gave Britain strength during the darkest moments of the war through his unflagging determination to survive and prove to the world of his nation’s u
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk — the victor at the Battle of Gallipoli, Turkey’s first president, and a reformer so zealous that he replaced six centuries of Ottoman Islamic legal and cultural custom with Western practices in the space of 15 years —
Recognized by most historians and much of the public as one of our country’s greatest presidents, Abraham Lincoln is known for his impressive accomplishments, including preserving the union during the Civil War and signing The Emancipation P
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